A Book's Cover
by StripedLynx
Summary: What pain has he ever felt? He was the childish one, he always smiled. But Lately Wally hasn't been acting like his usually self, and Bruce was going to find out why. A talk with Wally might make things more clear. Maybe Bruce will then learn not to judge a book by it's cover.


**Disclaimer** : **I do NOT own Justice League or its characters, they sadly belong to DC. D:**

 **This is my first story! Yay! I hope you like the story, if you don't that's fine too.  
**

 **I know it's not perfect, but live and learn right?**

 **Enjoy! c:** ***sits patiently and stares at readers***

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He's the childish one, the optimistic one, the one that has it easy in life. What could possibly be a reason where he, of all people, could know true pain?

He always has a smile on is face. Sure he may get hurt physically on missions, but honestly, Bruce has never seen or heard any indication that _Wally_ has ever went through similar to what the members of the league has been through. Of course he didn't think that Wally had the best life but it was better than the other six members of the league.

But yet, something was off about Flash today. He didn't have that same glow that he usually wore. Come to think of it, he didn't have it yesterday either. Batman wasn't known to be the "caring type" but it intrigued him. Really, he just wanted Wally out of his head. It was annoying.

Hesitantly Bruce decided that he would go talk to Wally. He got up from the monitors in search for the red-headed speedster. Normally Wally was in the cafeteria but oddly, and quite disturbingly, he wasn't there. Most of the food was there too. Now Bruce definitely knew something was up.

"Have you seen Flash today?", Batman asked John as he walked up to the table he was sitting at. Surely he would know, they did almost everything together. "Yeah. He was here earlier, he said he wasn't feeling so great and went to his room. W-wait why do you wanna know? You saw the Batmobile spray painted pink, didn't you?", John was starting to feel nervous for his friend.

"I wanted to talk to him about his behavior lately. And what do you mean the Batmob-"

"Nothing! Forget I said anything. Flash should be in his room." John quickly retreated to another table and put his head down. Him and his big mouth, Wally was starting to rub off on him.

Grreeaat. Now he had to get the Batmobile cleaned. Again. It's not easy cleaning that thing you know.

Batman knocked on Flash's room door. No answer. He knocked again. Still no answer. If Wally didn't answer him soon he was gonna blow his door dow-. The door opened and he saw Wally smiling on the other side. Only, this smile was different. It looked...forced. He also had red eyes. Was Wally crying? Why was he crying?

"H-Hey Bats. What are you doing here? I'm not really in the mood to talk right no-." Bruce pushed Flash aside and walked in. "Or you could come in. Why not?" Wally sighed and sat on the bed .

"What do you want Bats? You're not really the sleepover kind of guy." Flash shuddered has he thought of a pajama wearing Batman having a pillow fight. It wasn't right. It just wasn't right. Flash was jolted out of his nightmare by a cough. "Oh, sorry. I take it you're here to talk about something?"

"Yes." Bruce grunted. He didn't want to wait anymore, he got straight to the point. "You've been acting strange lately. Why?"

Flash was taken back by this. _I thought I hid it pretty well._ He thought wrong. He was Batman, nothing goes past him. He decided he would rip the band-aid off and tell him. No point in hiding anymore.

"Yesterday was a...bad day. My, um, uncle died some years back and yesterday was the anniversary. I saw him more of a dad than an uncle." Wally stopped, he didn't want to keep going anymore. It hurt.

He knew Batman wasn't going to let it go anytime soon. He came this far, he couldn't chicken out now.

He sighed. "My mom died when I was 6 from cancer. That pushed my dad, Rudy, over the edge. He started drinking and going out late at night. Leaving me at home to clean the house, cook dinner, and homework. When I failed to complete anything that my dad expected me to do, he would- kick me, punch me, throw things at me. I pretty much hated living with him. My only happiness was watching Flash on the news. Seeing how fast he was, able to stop every villain he encountered." Bruce nodded. He remembered seeing Flash on the news too. He thought he was a great hero.

"His sister Iris, my aunt, came to visit on day and saw the empty beer bottles across the floor. She was already suspicious from that alone, but it even more so when she saw me. There were bruises and cuts all over me. She called her husband Barry, my uncle, he was a Forensic Scientist. Me being the science geek I was, and still am, thought that was cool. Anyway, my dad was arrested and I was adopted by my aunt and uncle." Wally smiled remembering how fun it was living with them.

"I later found out that my Uncle Barry was the Flash I looked up too so much. That strengthened our bond even more. He even told my how he became Flash and why he loved it so much."

Wally chuckled as more memories came flooding back to him. How they always went on adventures together. Mostly in their backyard.

"I remember being so amazed at his powers that I began looking through his journals in his office, searching to see if he still had the recipe of how he had become the Flash." Wally sighed once more. "Long story short, I recreated the explosion that made my uncle the Flash. It worked but boy was he mad. Aunt Iris had to take him out of the hospital room where I was stay to calm down. After a lot of begging and pleading but I finally managed to get him to let me be his sidekick. He told me that I had to listen to every word he said. I agreed and I became Kid Flash and everything was great, until we encountered a evil version of my uncle, he called himself Professor Zoom." Wally spat his name with venom that still lingered in Bruce's mind.

Bruce knew that venom too well. He remembered that same sound coming from his mouth when he was a kid. He was starting to see the same pain he felt in Wally. In fact, he could sense it. It was radiating off of him.

Wally continued, feeling rather good that he could release the pent up feelings he's been holding inside for years. "Flash and I fought Zoom. In the e-end, only I-I made it out alive." Tears were already on the verge of falling and Wally would not let that happen, especially with Bruce here.

As if the universe heard him and was determined to prove him wrong, the tears rolled down his freckled cheeks and he shook in waves as tears turned to sobs.

Bruce stood and walked over to Wally and sat down next to him on the bed. What he did next was something most would be fearful of and run as soon as the action occurred.

With both arms around Wally, Batman _hugged_ him. An actual hug. A sincere hug. Batman let Wally finish, still embracing him.

What seemed like hours but was only mere moments, Wally sat up and looked a Bruce.

"Thanks. I needed that." Wally said with a real smile. A smile that made Bruce smile.

Wow two strange feats in one day. Bruce let go and nodded.

Wally's the childish one, the optimistic one, the one that seems to have it easy in life, but that's just his cover. Now Bruce knew what was on the inside. Wally is a hero, he is brave, he knows how to make anyone smile or laugh. But he also knows pain, sadness, loneliness, fear.

Bruce understands him better now. As the old saying goes, "Don't judge a book by it's cover."

Bruce stood up and walked towards the door then stopped and turned around.

"YOU PAINTED THE BATMOBILE _PINK?!"_

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 **Wow! My first story completed! They grow up so fast. :') Sorry if it seems rushed, I wasn't trying to make it that way. Feel free to give me pointers on how to improve my writing!**

 **Anyway thank you for reading!** **Please review and tell me what you thought or if you have any ideas for what I could do for the next story.** **Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated!**

 ***sits at a desk and waits for reviews* I'll wait...c:**


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